One problem may be that for years many Europeans and others across the way thought of the US in terms of the Wild West as shown in the movies where the stalwart hero with holstered gun riding on his well-worn chaps (not the UK version!) rescued distressed damsels and sweet old ladies and then rode away with nary a scratch. Or at most, a superficial wound to his arm, which, incidentally, was never his gun shootin' arm. Only bad men were killed.
Perhaps now they think the mythical Wild West has suddenly turned its guns onto itself. We have let down the mystique - and the fantasies of generations of youngsters were obliterated.